Student arrested after attempting to attend school in-person while suspended

Thursday, September 10, 2020

A high school senior from Long Island who is protesting remote learning was arrested on Thursday after attempting to attend in-person classes while suspended.

MASTIC BEACH, Long Island (WABC) -- A high school senior from Long Island who is protesting remote learning was arrested on Thursday after attempting to attend in-person classes while suspended.

William Floyd High School senior Maverick Stow, 17, was suspended Tuesday for trying to attend school on a remote learning day.

Stow was issued a criminal trespass notice when he did the same thing on Wednesday.

When he showed up to the school on Thursday morning too, police arrested him and took him to the 7th precinct.

Stow said he believes he should be in school five days a week, but officials with the school district say they don't have the space to allow every student in every school every day -- while following state guidelines.

Watch Tuesday's report on Stow's suspension

Kristin Thorne reports on the the student's suspension.

Now the district is threatening to close the high school to all students if Stow keeps showing up.

More than 100 students have now signed a Change.org petition, condemning Stow's actions, saying he does not speak for all students.

Stow's parents previously told Eyewitness News they support their son.

"Kids need to be in school every day. Virtual learning is not learning," said Nora Kaplan-Stow, Maverick's mother. "My son is being suspended because he wants to be in school."

Richard Stow said his son told him and his wife what he was planning to do on Tuesday. It's not yet known what their response is to their son's arrest on Thursday.

William Floyd School District Public Relations Director James Montalto released a statement about Thursday's arrest saying,

"Today, Maverick Stow, as reported by the media, was arrested for criminal trespassing for unlawfully entering school grounds. As a district, our primary focus aside from providing a high-quality education, is to provide a safe learning environment for students and staff. Any attempt by a student who has been suspended or any other unauthorized person trying to enter school grounds is taken extremely seriously and will be met with the most severe consequences. School safety is a top priority especially in this day and age.

"Mr. Stow continues to display irresponsible and selfish behavior with today's latest publicity stunt. He arrived wearing a neon green shirt - for high visibility - with a contingent of media just outside the fence line trying to capture him getting arrested as he entered the building. He entered the building and was immediately arrested by the Suffolk County Police Department without incident and transported to the police station. As a result, if Mr. Stow continues to try to access school grounds each day that we are open, we will close the high school - and its approximately 3,000 students - to all in-person learning and it will be all virtual for the foreseeable future.

"We are still in the midst of a pandemic and will abide by the regulations set in place by our government and health officials designed to keep our students and staff safe. As we have said, Mr. Stow's rights as a student do not surpass the rights of any of our other 8,799 students; they should not have to come to school to witness this circus atmosphere each day. Most of our in-person classes at the high school are at maximum capacity according to the square footage of each classroom. It is just not possible to have all of our students back under the current social distancing regulations. We will not condone or allow students to flagrantly break the law in our schools."